The showing that almost wasn't...

I have been on lock down trying to prepare for the showing.  After all was said and done, they ended up not wanting our house.  They seemed very interested when they left and even asked for the sellers disclosure, but before I could hand deliver it to our wonderful agent, they had emailed saying they were going another direction.  Our house is now almost ready for market but man oh man is it hard to have a house "show ready".....especially when you homeschool 4 children and life just doesn't stop for anything.  We are halfway into financial peace and I'll be honest, today I am a little discouraged because HIS will was not my will.  I had started packing us up and was ready to take the leap into the country.  The thing I know is that HIS WAY is perfect so as I wait for my heart to follow that head knowledge I at least get to enjoy a clean and pretty nice house!  Here are the pictures of the 3 weeks that almost plowed us under!!!

Breezy kind of day

Can you tell what major project is happening today? Yes you are correct, it is the front door being refinished!

What makes this really fun and interesting is that last night the kids feed a stray kitty cat a bowl of milk and he keeps trying to claw his way in!:()

Market Ready

We are slowly fixing our current house up for market. As of last week I was not moving at lightning speed pace, but then an email came in on Friday.  We had been asked to do a one time showing to an interested family.  EEK...let's just say things were moved into overdrive as much needed to get accomplished in 1 week.  There were some unexpected delays due to on our part...

Delay 1

The staircase right off our front door needed some touch-up...yep this blessed staircase was one of the things I touched-up with ceiling paint...oops.  I then found matching paint and proceed to paint but soon found out that the staircase and trim does not all match.  Today I can proudly boast that the entire downstairs and stair have all their trim repainted along with the outsides of all of the doors. WHEW...just keep swimming...just keep swimming.  That's what was running through my head at 1AM last night!

Delay 2 and Miracle #1

Our master shower was looking rough so we decided to have it cleaned by the tile guys.  Well, apparently, the last owner decided to caulk over the grout to hide the mildew.  This led to us removing the grout and accidentally breaking two of the tiles. All was fun and games until Lowe's told us that our tiles, 14 years old, had been discontinued.  This was a costly mistake that we tried to work around.  We talked about using a accent row of tiles in a different color, but that was dangerous because we could damage more in the process and ultimately have to redo the entire tile work with also surrounds the tub.  So by the grace of GOD we ended up talking to a hole in the wall place that had our tiles...not only had, but gave them too us for free.  If that's not a miracle then I sure don't know what one is.

Craig "The TROWELER"

Craig thinks the name sounds a little creepy, but I think it is fitting.  He has done a great job working with a shower that was not a great gift to begin with.  The spacers didn't work, the grout color was a gamble, the tiles were discontinued, the mildew was epic...and tomorrow we shall see the final product!

Finished Kitchen

Next up.....frame for the master bathroom mirror.

Facebook Fast

I know most of you are on here since I am fasting from Facebook.  Let me just this fast is wayyyy sacrificial for me.  Lame I know, but sacrificial none the less.

Here's how it all transpired.... So in true form we discuss, at the Hindes School of Learning, cultural norms and religious holidays to see where they hit our biblical worldview.  We talked about the Lenten season and why fasting is typical.  A challenge arose and before the kids could formulate their fasts they challegened me to give up Facebook. Please insert guilt and shame as their mom and teacher. With inserted shame came pride that ....oh yea....I can totally go without facebook.

Day one 1 I find myself on autopilot clicking the facebook app on my phone.  So upon clicking I heard the voice of the evil one, although not willing to hush him, trick me that just looking and not posting is not really cheating.  By day 5 I am a pro at "just creeping" on Facebook.  Now on Day 6 we had a fatal flaw for the fast. By this I mean fatal only because the Facebook world caught me in my web of deception. So my smart phone is super amazing but oh so touchy. As I am scrolling down, just creeping away on Facebook, I somehow Hoover over the like button on someone's status and inadvertently click like. What do I do? Besides freaking out, I quickly unlike the liked status and close down Facebook. Isn't it funny how really my fast was over day 1,but day 6 is what it took for me to realize the flaw in my appearance based fast?

Day 8 was interesting, I realized that I could somewhat cheat the system by tweeting.  It's not nearly as fulfilling as Facebook, but let me continue to think in Facebook status form!:) So I have what maybe 2 weeks left and realized how horribly wrong I failed at it but also realized how much I need a savior to pick up the pieces of flawed me. What a gracious God I have that loves me despite my lack of ability. Surely if HE can be patient with me so can I with my kids when they fail to meet the mark.  That's it that's my rambling non Facebook status status. Praying each of you prepare your heart as you remember what HIS death and resurrection season is all about...a perfect savior coming to bridge our imperfect lives offering nothing but a free gift of eternal perfect "gracebook" living!

From Squatters to Dave Ramsey

Yesterday we decided to investigate a couple of properties so my motley crew hit Hutto and Georgetown.  The first directions made me question things a little as we had to pass a landfill.  The property, or land I should say, was nice.  It had lots of trees and backed up to a horse and goat farm.  This land is not restricted at all, pretty rare, so I continued on. I guess pictures are a good way for you to truly understand.

Keep in mind the list price is only $95,000 and it's 6 acres! I just wonder how much gravel roads flood???

Yep...that would be the front porch...squatters have taken residence here.  For someone who is a little bit of a sanitation freak this is quite alarming.  I immediately stared emailing and asking about demolition...how much it costs to tear down a house!!!

Then we ventured on to a BEAUTIFUL piece of land right off 35 on the San Gabriel River....I had the house mentally situated on the land but....

So this picture may not do it justice, but this property literally backs up to the San Gabriel River. You are right on the freeway, but there is enough land for it not to matter.  So here's where the BUT comes into play.  It is unbuildable, apparently the structure of the rocks/cliffs can not support a house or building.  Why is this even for sale and what do you do with "look" only land???

Needless to say I left feeling like poop....feeling like this is never going to happen.  God's timing is always so spot on even when I grumble.  Anyway, some sweet friends teach FPU (financial Peace University) and we had pre-planned a dinner meeting with them to talk about budgets, investing, and such.

The Shimps here encouraging us to take more control of our financial future so we can bless others too!  Love how God places just the perfect people in your path at just the right time.  I am not gonna lie...I cried and cried last night.  I make my own laundry soap and cut coupons but this new lifestyle scares me.  I am a free spirit and having to know where each dollar goes literally makes me feel like I am loosing a little bit of me in the process. Isn't that so jacked up..I mean we are called to be faithful with what he has entrusted us, but really...me....really...budgeting ever dollar?

...and there you have it.... Now I sit, pray, dream big and get back to life which is homeschooling, cleaning, cooking, loving, and knowing that this path has already been charted I just need to stay out of the driver's seat!!

The "Fixer"

We live in a wonderful house full of potential, but for the average buyer they have to see the beauty not just  imagine it, so with that said, we decided to start fixing up the house to prepare it for sale.  Last week the granite counters went in the kitchen and master bath.  We chose the "cheaper chicken" option which involves us handling the plumbing hookup and gas stove hook-up.  In theory it sounds like no big deal, but with new under mount sinks it changes the pipe setup.  4 days later we still have no range or plumbing in the kitchen and the master bath vanity is still not yet plumbed. In other recent discoveries...I found out I had been touching up the trim work with ceiling paint....explains why there was no shine on 1/2 the baseboards. I think we will have this home improvement stuff down just in time to buy another "fixer".  I will post official pictures of the remodel when there is a finished product.  For now enjoy the work in action shots....my hair is white from paint, my ears are deaf from the cutting of the granite in house, and my tummy is rumbling not having our kitchen!:)  No pain no gain right?

 demolition....can I just say I am so pleased that we opted out of doing that part.  That DIY would have spelled DISASTER!!

It was a snug fit...heavy job but looks great!

This was a 6 hour job ........

yep...the wrong paint I hope was a nice primer:)

Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day

In December we went to visit family and I was first introduced to this concept of pre-making bread dough that can last up to three weeks in the fridge.  It was super yummy and VERY budget friendly.  I saw the book though and it looked to wordy.  Again, my ADD sometimes overrules my desire to be all homegrown. Anyway, a couple months later a good friend mentioned that she too makes this for her family.  I boldly asked her to teach me and here go...easy peasy bread (4 pounds for $.75)....and again yummmmmmy!

instructions for olive bread we made into french boules and pizza dough


Here is a quick video with some helpful hints:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vcG4PpG1LcQ

Super talented and ever so fun Amanda teaching me the basics!!:)

Ready to rise now....

So I kinda forgot to take a final "tada" picture, so it was an "in transit" photo but we had rave reviews on the bread!!